Internet Advertising Pioneer: Kevin O’Connor, Founder of DoubleClick and FindTheBest (Part 2)

Sramana: How did DoubleClick get off the ground?

Kevin O’Connor: When we started it in my basement we called in Internet Advertising Federation. We later changed it to Internet Advertising Network. We were developing the technology. While Dwight was building the technology, I was researching. We did not know anything about advertising or direct response. I picked up some of the classic works in those areas and realized that all of the advertising theories that had been developed over the past 50 years could actually be implemented in software.

We launched the business in our basement. I went down once at 2 a.m., and I could see it delivering ads and making money. I loved it. The cash register was ringing nonstop. This was probably one of the first SaaS businesses.

Sramana: How did advertisers find out that you existed?

Kevin O’Conn0r: We had very good advertisers who we hired. Dave Gwozdz had sold print publication, and he went out and got publishers to allow us to put advertising on their sites. We had to find advertisers to monetize. It certainly took a long time to build out those networks. When the cash register first started ringing, it was not ringing real loud. It was pennies as opposed to dollars.

We were developing the technology, and we did not think anyone else was doing it. I was always monitoring the trade press for any signs of other life. Dave Carlick was talking about a group at his ad agency called DoubleClick and their intention was to build the exact same thing.

I called up Dave and told him that I could not believe that they were going to do the exact same thing. He told me that they were not. They had the concept, but they did not have the technology. I said, “Let’s talk.” We had the technology, but we did not have the advertising expertise. We merged the two groups together, which consisted of around four people, and we moved the operation to New York City.

Sramana: At what point did Kevin Ryan come into the picture?

Kevin O’Connor: We moved in early 1996. He came in around 6 months later.

Sramana: What was your personal experience with the early days of Internet advertising like? In effect, you were one of the first ad networks that ever existed.

Kevin O’Conn0r: It was tough. It was a chicken-and-egg thing. We had to convince advertisers to spend ad dollars when there was no audience. We had to convince publishers that we could get them ad dollars. Any established company is reluctant to change its ways. We hired a lot of people from the industry that could help us. Wenda Millard was well known in the print industry and gave us a lot of credibility. She could talk the language of the market.

Sramana: You mentioned that in the early days the cash register was not ringing very loud. How did you finance all of this?

Kevin O’Conn0r: When we merged with DoubleClick, they gave us a blank check, unknowingly. We were writing a lot of checks against their account and they all cleared, which was nice. Things started heating up, so we had to raise money from Greylock and Bain Capital.

This segment is part 2 in the series : Internet Advertising Pioneer: Kevin O'Connor, Founder of DoubleClick and FindTheBest
1 2 3 4 5 6 7